Anchor pretensioner structure for cars

ABSTRACT

An anchor pretensioner structure for cars, may include an inflator mounted on a car-body plate to pull a seat belt upon a collision, a pretensioner wire made of a flexible material and connected to the inflator, a protector mounted to the pretensioner wire coupled to the seat belt, and an angle-adjuster to selectively rotate the pretensioner wire, depending upon whether or not a passenger may be sitting on a seat, so that the pretensioner wire may be allowed to rotate by a predetermined angle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No.10-2010-0124671 filed on Dec. 8, 2010, the entire contents of which isincorporated herein for purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates, in general, to an anchor pretensionerstructure for cars and, more particularly, to an anchor pretensionerstructure for cars, which prevents a passenger from tripping on theanchor pretensioner structure when the passenger gets into a rear seatof a 3-door or 2-door car.

2. Description of Related Art

Generally, car seat belts are primary safety devices for a driver andpassengers and are required by law to be mounted in cars.

Such seat belts are intended to restrain the motion of the body of adriver and a passenger in order to reduce injuries when a car suffers animpact. However, seat belts that are too tight or loose make theinjuries more severe, which is a problem in need of a solution.

To solve this problem, a pretensioner is provided in a retractor thatconstitutes the seat belt. In the normal operation, the pretensionerserves to both smoothly wind the belt that is pulled to fit the wearer'sbody, and upon an accident to forcedly and quickly wind the belt toreduce the wearer's injuries.

When getting into a rear seat of a 3-door or 2-door car, a passengerfirst has to push or fold a front seat forward and then get in the car.However, when doing so, because the entrance space is narrow, he/sheoften trips on an anchor pretensioner of the seat belt which is mountedin the front seat. This involves the danger of the occurrence of asafety accident, and accordingly may cause the manufacturer to becomeinvolved in a legal suit for product liability due to passengerinjuries.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the cause of a passenger tripping.

In order to get into the rear seat of the 3-door or 2-door car, apassenger first folds a front seat 1 forward and then enters a spacebetween the rear side 3 of a door panel and the front seat 1.

As indicated by the solid line, if the part of a protector 2 of ananchor pretensioner protrudes by a great amount from the rear side 3 ofthe door panel, the mounting angle at which a hook section of the beltis inserted into and fastened to the protector becomes small, which canreduce a sub marine phenomenon whereby upon a collision, the passengercomes out from under the seat belt. However, if the protector 2protrudes to an excessive degree, the possibility of the rear passengertripping also increases.

However, if the protector 2 is made to protrude by a smaller distance,the possibility of tripping becomes lower but the mounting angle of theseat belt increases correspondingly, thereby increasing the possibilityof a sub marine occurring and having a negative influence on safety.

To solve this problem, the anchor pretensioner can be designed to bemoved downwards, but this is a new design added to the structure of acar body, so that investment costs taken to study the new design such asre-analyzing the structural strength or the like, re-establishing a testplatform, or the like are heavy.

The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section isonly for enhancement of understanding of the general background of theinvention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form ofsuggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to aperson skilled in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing ananchor pretensioner structure for cars which is capable of automaticallyregulating the degree of protrusion of an anchor pretensioner for afront passenger depending upon whether or not a passenger is sitting ona seat of a 3-door or 2-door car.

In an aspect of the present invention, the anchor pretensioner structurefor cars, may include an inflator mounted on a car-body plate to pull aseat belt upon a collision, a pretensioner wire made of a flexiblematerial and connected to the inflator, a protector mounted to thepretensioner wire coupled to the seat belt, and an angle-adjusterincluding a rotating disc rotatably mounted on the car-body plate andhaving in one side a hooking protrusion to selectively rotate thepretensioner wire, and a rotary driver body engaged to the rotating discto rotate the rotating disc depending upon whether or not a passengermay be sitting on a seat, so that the pretensioner wire may be allowedto rotate by a predetermined angle.

When the passenger sits on a seat, the rotary driver body actuates therotating disc to rotate the pretensioner wire in a direction in which adegree of protrusion of the protector towards an entrance space may bedecreased.

In another aspect of the present invention, the anchor pretensionerstructure for cars, may include an inflator mounted on a car-body plateto pull a seat belt upon a collision, a pretensioner wire made of aflexible material and connected to the inflator, a protector mounted tothe pretensioner wire coupled to the seat belt, and an angle-adjusterhaving a linear drive body mounted on the car-body plate, and anoperating rod mounted in one side of the linear drive body, wherein theoperating rod moves in association with the pretensioner wire whilelinearly reciprocating, and wherein the linear driver body may beadapted to linearly move the operating rod depending upon whether or nota passenger may be sitting on a seat, so that the pretensioner wire maybe allowed to rotate by a predetermined angle.

A housing may be provided between the inflator and the linear drive bodyand may have a hinge point with a curved surface, the hinge pointserving as a center of rotation, and wherein when the operating rodmoves linearly, the pretensioner wire rotates about the curved surfaceof the hinge point.

When the passenger sits on a seat, the linear driver body actuates theoperating rod to rotate the pretensioner wire in a direction in which adegree of protrusion of the protector towards an entrance space may bedecreased.

According to the anchor pretensioner structure for cars of the presentinvention, when a passenger gets in a rear seat of a 3-door or 2-doorcar, the pretensioner of a seat belt for a front seat minimallyprotrudes into an entrance space, preventing the passenger from trippingon the pretensioner.

Further, in addition to this effect, when a front passenger wears a seatbelt, a mounting angle of the pretensioner is minimized, therebyproviding the effect of preventing a sub marine phenomenon and ensuringmaximal safety.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other featuresand advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in moredetail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, andthe following Detailed Description of the Invention, which togetherserve to explain certain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view showing a problem of a conventional anchor pretensionerstructure.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an anchor pretensioner structure for cars.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an exemplary embodiment of an anchorpretensioner structure for cars according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially detailed view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a view showing another embodiment of an anchor pretensionerstructure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarilyto scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of variousfeatures illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. Thespecific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein,including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations,and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intendedapplication and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent partsof the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of thepresent invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) willbe described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will beunderstood that present description is not intended to limit theinvention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, theinvention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplaryembodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalentsand other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Reference will now be made in greater detail to embodiments of theinvention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

To help one understand an anchor pretensioner structure for carsaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a generalstructure of a conventional anchor pretensioner will now be simplydescribed with reference to FIG. 2.

The anchor pretensioner structure for cars includes an inflator 10mounted on a car-body plate to pull a seat belt upon collision, apretensioner wire 11 made of a flexible material and connected to theinflator 10, and a protector 14 mounted to the pretensioner wire 11.

The pretensioner wire 11 is connected to the seat belt in the inside ofthe protector 14, and is designed to tighten the seat belt by rapidlydrawing itself into the inflator 10 when the inflator 10 is activated.

A housing 12 and a mounting bracket 13 are mounted in front of theinflator 10 by the medium of a variety of caulking members for airtightness. The housing 12 and the mounting bracket 13 are fixed to thecar-body plate and serve to guide the pretensioner wire 11 when drawn.For this, the housing 12 is provided on the front face with a guidecurve 12 a to allow the pretensioner wire to move along the guide curvewhile bringing the pretensioner wire into close contact with the guidecurve. Of course, the guide curve may be formed on the front face of themounting bracket 13.

The present invention is a technology that adds the construction forpreventing a rear passenger from tripping when getting into a rear seat,to the conventional anchor pretensioner structure. The invention can beimplemented by the following two embodiments.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show various exemplary embodiments of an anchorpretensioner structure for cars according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention.

The anchor pretensioner structure for cars has the same structure asshown in FIG. 2 in that the structure includes an inflator 10 mounted ona car-body plate 4 to pull a seat belt 15 upon a collision, apretensioner wire 11 made of a flexible material and connected to theinflator 10, and a protector 14 mounted to the pretensioner wire 11.

However, in this embodiment, an angle-adjuster is further provided,which includes a rotating disc 20 which is rotatably mounted on thecar-body plate 4 and has in one side a hooking protrusion 21 rotatingthe pretensioner wire 11, and a rotary driver body 30 which is connectedto the rotating disc 20 to rotate the rotating disc 20 depending uponwhether or not a passenger is sitting on a seat, so as to allow thepretensioner wire 11 to rotate by a certain angle.

It is preferred that the rotating disc 20 be rotatably mounted to aposition where as shown in FIG. 2, the housing 12 and the mountingbracket 13 are mounted in the conventional construction, so as tofurther serve as the center of rotation of the pretensioner wire 11.

The rotary driver body 30 rotates the rotating disc 20 by a certainangle depending upon whether or not a passenger is sitting on the seat.Here, the hooking protrusion 21 formed on one side of the rotating disc20 hooks the body of the pretensioner wire 11 and rotates by a certainangle together with the rotating disc 20.

The rotary driver body 30 may simply have a bevel gear structure or apinion and rack structure, so that it allows the rotating disc 20 torotate along a rotating surface that meets at 90° with a rotatingsurface of a driving motor mounted therein. Further, the rotary driverbody may be of the same structure as a wiper motor driver body thatreciprocatingly rotates a wiper by a certain angle. Like this, therotary driver body 30 can be easily conceivable from the related art, sothe detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Further, the rotary driver body 30 may be configured so that when apassenger sits on a seat the pretensioner wire 11 is allowed to rotatein a direction in which the degree of protrusion of the protector 14towards an entrance space is decreased.

The pretensioner wire 11 indicated by the solid line in FIGS. 3 and 4has a level at which a mounting angle of a seat belt becomes lower so asto maximally ensuring the safety of a passenger who wears the seat belt,but the degree of protrusion into the entrance space becomes higher soas to increase the risk of a passenger tripping. On the contrary, thepretensioner wire 11 indicated by the dotted line is rotated by acertain angle by the rotary driver body 30, and is located at a positionwhere it minimally protrudes into the entrance space, preventing thepassenger from tripping thereon.

A controller which is separately provided or built in the rotary driverbody 30 receives a signal, such as a grounding signal of a center buckle16 that checks whether or not the seat belt 15 is locked, a statussignal related to a length of the belt drawn from or wound around aretractor, a status signal related to the sitting position of apassenger, a signal about the driving conditions of a car, or the like,analyzes the signal to determine whether or not a passenger is sittingon a rear seat, and outputs an operating signal to the rotary driverbody 30.

For example, in the state in which a 2-door car stops after being drivena certain distance, and when a front passenger gets out of the car afterunlocking the seat belt from the center buckle 16, the controlleranticipates a rear passenger getting out and operates the rotary driverbody 30 to allow the pretensioner wire 11 to rotate from a solid lineposition to a dotted line position, i.e. towards the front seat, therebyminimizing the degree of protrusion of the protector 14 into an entrancespace.

FIG. 5 shows various exemplary embodiments of an anchor pretensionerstructure for cars according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

The exemplary embodiment further includes an angle-adjuster whichincludes a linear driver body 40 which is mounted on the car-body plate4 and has in one side an operating rod 41 that moves in association withthe pretensioner wire 11 while linearly reciprocating. The linear driverbody is adapted to linearly move the operating rod 41 depending uponwhether or not a passenger is sitting on a seat, so as to allow thepretensioner wire 11 to rotate by a certain angle.

The linear driver body 40 may be configured so that the operating rod 41linearly reciprocates by simply using a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinderor an electric motor and cam structure. Further, a variety oflinearly-reciprocating structures can be adapted with a modification ofa design required.

The linear driver body 40 may be configured to, when a passenger sits ona seat, allow the pretensioner wire 11 to rotate in a direction towardwhich the degree of protrusion of the protector 14 towards an entrancespace is made smaller.

Further, in this embodiment, since there is no member, such as therotating disc of the various exemplary embodiments, serving as thecenter of rotation of the pretensioner wire, a housing 12 is provided infront of the inflator 10, the housing having hinge point with a curvedsurface 12 a, the hinge point serving as the center of rotation of thepretensioner wire 11. Then, when the operating rod 41 moves linearly,the pretensioner wire 11 rotates about the curved surface 12 a of ahinge point. The curved surface 12 a of a hinge point has substantiallythe same as the guide curve 12 a shown in FIG. 2, so it is designated asthe same reference numeral as the guide curve.

Since this embodiment has the same construction as that of the variousexemplary embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, except for the descriptionof how the linear driver body 40 rotates the pretensioner wire 11 whilelinearly reciprocating, the operation of the controller and pretensionerwire 11 can refer to the related description of the various exemplaryembodiments.

Although a exemplary embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed in the accompanying claims.

For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appendedclaims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer” “forwards” and“backwards” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodimentswith reference to the positions of such features as displayed in thefigures.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in orderto explain certain principles of the invention and their practicalapplication, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make andutilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as wellas various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended thatthe scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto andtheir equivalents.

1. An anchor pretensioner structure for cars, comprising: an inflatormounted on a car-body plate to pull a seat belt upon a collision; apretensioner wire made of a flexible material and connected to theinflator; a protector mounted to the pretensioner wire coupled to theseat belt; and an angle-adjuster including: a rotating disc rotatablymounted on the car-body plate and having in one side a hookingprotrusion to selectively rotate the pretensioner wire; and a rotarydriver body engaged to the rotating disc to rotate the rotating discdepending upon whether or not a passenger is sitting on a seat, so thatthe pretensioner wire is allowed to rotate by a predetermined angle. 2.The anchor pretensioner structure for cars according to claim 1, whereinwhen the passenger sits on a seat, the rotary driver body actuates therotating disc to rotate the pretensioner wire in a direction in which adegree of protrusion of the protector towards an entrance space isdecreased.